A record-breaking $8.2 million filly by American Pharoah, purchased at the most recent Keeneland September yearling sale by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm, now has a name.
According to the BloodHorse's Ron Mitchell, the half-sister to top sire Into Mischief and multiple champion Beholder will be known as America's Joy.
Todd Quast, farm manager for Whisper Hill near Ocala, Fla., told BloodHorse that America's Joy likely won’t begin her racing career until the second half of 2020.
"She was all class at the sale, and she's only gotten classier," Quast said. "We don't have a very accelerated 2-year-old program. We just let the horse tell us, but it will probably be summer or fall."
America’s Joy earned the title of highest-priced yearling ever sold at the Keeneland September sale after Pope outlasted the deep-pocketed Sheikh Mohammed in the bidding. In recent years, Pope has had a string of high-priced purchases with the most notable being Horse of the Year Havre de Grace as a broodmare prospect in 2012 for $10 million.
America’s Joy is from the second-crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and is out of Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady, who in addition to Into Mischief and Beholder is also the dam of Grade 1 winner and sire Mendelssohn.
She was expected to be the last of Leslie's Lady's progeny offered at auction, sparking the bidding war.
"She certainly has tremendous value should she not make it to the races for whatever reason," Pope told reporters after signing the ticket in September. "Like anything, it's a big gamble. Fingers crossed, lots of prayers, and please wish us well."
Quast told BloodHorse that Pope's mother was named Joy, and that “she had been waiting for a special horse” to use it.
